"Then let's give it a try!"
With the Ancient Dragon's roar, Fortissax opened its massive jaws, and a torrent of scorching dragon's breath erupted like a volcano.
The powerful wave of fire surged forward like a raging tide, carried by the howling wind. Wherever it passed, even the air itself seemed to ignite.
In the blink of an eye, the terrifying flames swallowed Nolan whole, burying him in a sea of fire.
Watching this, Fortissax could not help feeling puzzled. Was the Lord my sister chose truly this weak?
It stared at the figure engulfed by flames, one who had not even tried to resist. But Fortissax only froze for an instant before spreading its dragon wings and taking flight.
"This fire still isn't hot enough."
It saw Nolan slowly raise his hand from within the sea of flames.
His palm curled loosely, then twisted hard.
Boom.
In that instant, a thunderous roar shook heaven and earth, as though the entire world had been torn open.
A violent gale, like a rampaging beast, suddenly ripped through the heart of the flames.
Its force was astonishing. Like an unstoppable blade, it cleaved the blazing sea of fire cleanly in two.
The flames scattered under the impact of the gale, bursting outward like a startled swarm of bees.
Storm Assault!
Fortissax was shaken. It instantly realized that the man before it was no weakling at all. On the contrary, he was absurdly powerful.
The last one capable of wielding Storm Assault to such a degree was likely the Storm King of ancient times.
An opponent like this was far beyond what an ordinary Demigod could handle. No wonder Radahn and Malenia had both lost to him.
So Fortissax veered sideways like a mad thing, using every ounce of strength it had to avoid that terrifying storm.
The storm condensed into a gigantic sword blade, like a sword of judgment from hell, and flashed past Fortissax with boundless force.
In that moment, Fortissax felt as if that power could split the entire world in two.
It began circling rapidly through the sky, red-and-black lightning gathering around its body.
Death Lightning!
Fortissax roared, and countless bolts of lightning descended from the sky with its cry.
The lightning hammered the ground, blasting mud in every direction, while black smoke spread slowly with the lingering arcs of electricity.
Smoke that spreads death? You picked the wrong opponent.
Nolan stood in place, feeling death's corrosion wash over him. His body weakened more and more, as if his life force were being drained away.
After nearly a century of erosion, the Death Dragon had managed to borrow a measure of death's power, but that was clearly not enough to deal with Nolan.
There was no need for him to bathe in Fortissax's dragonfire. Nolan's own body burst into flame, and surging vitality filled him in an instant.
He moved through the black mist, the fire of life wrapped around him like a cloak of the Sun King. Within the fog, he shone like a burning sun.
Fortissax stood beyond the black mist, staring at the Lord who blazed as brilliantly as the sun. It raised both front claws, and crimson lightning began to gather in them.
The lightning turned into spears. From raising them to throwing them took less than half a second, and they shot straight toward Nolan in an instant.
The strike was shockingly fast, and its power was even more terrifying.
Although Fortissax could use the power of death, years of death's corrosion had weakened it beyond measure.
If it had been at its peak, Nolan believed that Fortissax and Godwyn together really could have forced the other Demigods to submit.
But now, Godwyn was not at its side, and Nolan was not one of those Demigods.
Nolan showed no fear before the Ancient Dragon's attack. He raised his hand, golden arcs flickering in his palm before condensing directly into a golden sword.
Just as the crimson lightning was about to strike him, he swung his hand, leaving a golden trace in front of him.
The two Dragon Lightning Spears were cut apart in midair, and even the top of the Deeproot Depths was split open.
Countless crimson arcs bloomed in the air like fireworks, scattering in every direction.
What kind of monster is this? If this were the real world, this guy would probably flip Leyndell upside down!
Fortissax's eyes widened. It could not believe that the Dragon Lightning it had gathered with all its strength had been shattered so easily.
Throwing someone like this into a war between Demigods was absurdly unfair!
Malenia and Radahn had not lost unjustly. The only question was whether Godwyn, if he were still alive, could have beaten this creature.
Since it could not win a contest of spells, Fortissax immediately decided to switch to close combat.
It beat its wings and charged at Nolan like a meteor.
Dragon Lightning? Worthless. Only weak dragons rely on Dragon Lightning.
Not every Ancient Dragon's Dragon Lightning carried the power of gods, but every Ancient Dragon had immortal dragon scales.
In that case, it would fight in the most direct, purest way possible.
A true Ancient Dragon fought hand-to-hand!
Many of Fortissax's dragon scales had already fallen away, so it rammed Nolan with the hardest part of its body, its head.
The protruding Dead Roots on its head served their purpose as well, turning it into a giant flying spear.
Soon, Fortissax slammed into Nolan with a dull, heavy impact.
Then it heard a sharp cracking sound, but it could not feel the slightest bit pleased.
It was not Nolan's bones that had cracked. It was the Dead Roots on Fortissax's own head.
The once-unbreakable Dead Root shattered the moment it touched Nolan, crumbling like crystal striking a block of steel.
Death, feared by countless beings, was utterly powerless before this human.
After the Dead Root shattered, the next thing to hit Nolan was Fortissax's own head.
It quickly learned just how tough Nolan's body was. He was like an indestructible rock.
Because of their stone-like Scale Armor, Ancient Dragons were sometimes called hard rocks. But now, Fortissax was seeing a human turn into a rock as well.
The instant Fortissax struck him, Nolan withdrew the "Waning Sun Prison Garment" from his body. In its place, Ancient Dragon Scale Armor grew over him from head to toe, fitting tightly against his form.
The two "rocks" collided and plummeted toward the ground.
Boom!!
The world itself seemed to groan under the terrifying impact. The earth shattered and caved in at once, and the mud churned wildly like a disturbed sea.
The entire space trembled violently from the collision of those massive bodies.
As for Fortissax, after it hit the ground, it could no longer advance. Its head felt as if it were splitting apart.
This thing, neither human nor dragon, was far too hard!
Before Fortissax could recover from its shock, it suddenly felt its body being lifted by a tremendous force.
Nolan had grabbed it by the head and hurled it away.
Fortissax tumbled uncontrollably through the air, smashing straight through the thick wall of trees before finally stopping when it became embedded in the rock face.
Then it heard a heavy rush of air. The next instant, a "slender" hand clamped around its neck.
That small figure dragged it along the rock face at a sprint. Fortissax's body carved a long gouge through the stone, and the repeated impacts to its head left it dazed.
Then, upon reaching the center of the Deeproot Depths, the man flung it down from above, tossing it back into the muddy pit from earlier and driving the great crater several inches deeper.